Give and Take

Why do certain Females believe that a man is responsible for their actions? A girl gives it up and a party it is the guy’s fault. A girl gives it up at a party, in her room, or in a back alley and it’s the guys fault. He seduced her. As if we have forgotten in the 21^st century that it takes two to tango. We always here that guys are thinking about sex all the time. Ok, and girls are thinking ‘bout what Molecular Physics? Come on, girls think about sex as much if not more than guys. I just can’t figure out why some females put themselves in the positions that they do. I know some of the smartest, most attractive mature females that cry just as much as the girl you would consider promiscuous when their “man” is caught doing something he should not have. They always fail to mention that while they are on their way to a MBA, Tyrone is back in the hood barely attending community college.

People, especially females in my opinion, too often see what they want to and ignore what is right in front of their faces. In a significant other we all seem to seek the fantasy rather than the truth. Yea, I can work with that. No you can’t sister, if he isn’t doing A, B nor C he will never get to XY or Z. It is simple logic you have to begin to finish, and too many so called relationships never really begin and so they never fail to end. Then, once the dastardly deed has already been done, we all look to place blame. Did he cheat; was he simply not good enough, what happened? So much speculation on a topic only two people are experts on? Why?

Being the nerd that I am I, I have never and will never claim to be the excerpt on love and relationships. With that said I also realize that I may not always show it but I am still very young. Yea but, I can only say what I see with my own eyes and my mind’s eyes. What I see is that love is not logical, or at least what we consider love. The human emotional heart transcends any experimentation or innovation the human mind can come up with. In our minds we strive to be all we can be, in our heart we settle for what makes us feel good no matter what level it leaves us on. I am not sure that that in its self is such a bad thing, but what I am sure is that it leaves us weak. When a girl can see her boyfriend cheat, feel her husband beat her, or know that he is just not a good man, she is weak. We tell young men to think with their head not their penis, and we tell females to stay away from boys. Why?

There is a double standard that exists between young men and women. A young man that has many sexual partners is a player, a young women that does the same thing is a whore. That is wrong and sets a bad example in the heads of everyone as to what is allowed and what is not. However, a young lady that lies on a man is “traumatized”, while a young man’s same lie is considered vindictive at least. This sets as bad an example, true equality is exactly that. A relationship where no one wears the pants and two people are seen the same way regardless of what is between their legs….

“In remembering the past, what will you do to contribute to a brighter future?”

What is the future if not that what we all wish for, but has not yet come? A dream. The past has already happened and we can’t change it. The past is too inflexible to be a dream. The present is so hectic sometimes we barley even realize we are in it. The present is too high paced to be enjoyed as a good dream. The future affects everything we do, as our dreams do.

The way we think about what has already happened depends a lot on what we think its affect will be after our time. What we say or do in the present depends constantly on how it will be perceived a week, a day, or a minute from the time we do the action. The future has no limits. No dream is too big for the future, and the minute it becomes too big, we associate it with the present. There is nothing more perfect in the society we live in than the future. However, with the power that perfection brings to any entity comes with it the challenge to make it more than a word and the responsibility to keep the dream breathing for all those that use it to keep gong themselves.

I have been asked to describe what I will do for the dream that we call the future, taking in to consideration the past. I answer this challenge the only way I know how, by looking at my situation and adding my dream of what could be better to the collective.

I look at the young American black male today and I see a social construct bought into by group of people that had very little say in the constructing. I see a house built and sold at a high cost, but the inhabitants never really got to decided whether or not they wanted to live there at that time. We, as black men, could be so much better then what we are. However, we must be careful because I am sure every generation look at themselves and hope the next generation would be better, we are no exception. The difference is control. Control over what we produce and the social image we project. Hip- hop started as an art to give expression to the oppression of those in the ethnic ghettos. My dream is that we return to our roots. I think I can contribute to a better future by supporting those artists that do return Hip-hop’s roots. I think I can contribute to a better future by my peers that are doing the right thing. In the discussion on Wednesday night there was much talk about the independence of the Black male. The funny thing about independence is that is never truly stands alone. It takes a group of thinkers to lead another group of thinkers in the right way. That is how communities and neighborhoods move, not necessarily one by one but one group of young men leading other young men in the right way. That is independence. My dream is that no matter what a young black decides to believe in, he is the source of that decision.

I think I can contribute to a better future by supporting a refocus on the family. Black men we have too often failed black women. We are immature and naive. We use our natural gifts for self gratification rather than service, and that is not God’s will. We are too often barbaric and too seldom compassionate. It is way past time that we replace the thug culture with a culture worth. It is way past the time that we allow our bodies to grow physical, but allow our biggest most productive organ, our brain, to shrivel up like a dream deferred. If I could contribute one thing directly to the future it would be a black man that some black women could bring home both to her mom and her best friend. A balck man that she could carry both to the bank and the night club. A balck man that both her boss and pastor could respect and be impressed by. A balck man amazing both when the door closes at night, and when the kids need to go to school in the morning. This is my dream.

My contribution to a better future will be a son who respects the life that God has blessed him with. It is my hope that I will raise a young man that is successful in school, respects his past but lives for the future. If there is one thing I could give my son to live on it would be that his life is not to be judged by what he made it, but rather the affect it had on his family, community, and society. If I could give anything to the future it would be that.

Black women you have too often disappointed balck men. As strong and intelligent as black women are, I think they often forget the line between strong and arrogant or the difference between intelligent and fool hardy. You sometimes take independence to extremes that no real man can accept (for if no man is an island currently women was into meant to live alone), and you overestimate the strength of even the strongest black man. My dream is for my God to bless me with a black woman that is not just the Queen of our house, but the Queen of my heart. This is my dream.

My contribution to a better future will be a daughter who respect herself and has reference for her Lord’s law above all else. I want to raise young lady that knows and is not afraid to show affection, but knows the limits of even her strongest desires. I want to inspirea young lady that submits her heart, but not her mind, to her husband when the time is right and raises black children that were a little more successful than those that gave them their name when she is ready. If I could give anything to the future it would be that.

What is the future if not that what we all wish for. I can hope all I want to, but no matter how small or easy to achieve, it takes a village to achieve a dream just as it does to raise a child. By adding my dream of what could be better to the collective, it is my hope as we work together to make that collective dream a reality we will make the future better.

BY D.W

This Week’s Questions

1.       What is more important than an education?

2.        What would you give to ensure your future?

3.       How is what Hilary Clinton is doing in Texas and Ohio different from what Rudy Giuliani did with Florida?

4.       Is drawing lines in the sand in big, populous states a uniquely New York thing? What does Hillary Clinton do if she loses, what does Illinois do if Obama wins? Rahm Emmanuel anyone?

5.       Is it fair to say that it is more important to the Democrats to keep and expand their lead in Congress, than win the Presidency?

6.       Now that John McCain is basically the nominee will anyone ask him if he plans to serve for more than one term if he wins? Is it fair to say that at over 70 and considered a moderate maverick, choosing a running mate will be the single most important decision McCain makes?

7.       Why is there an acceptable amount of immorality among people today?

8.       Will there be an United States of America in 2076?

9.       Does the NBA All Star game really matter?

10.   What do you say when you know you are right but everyone else insist you are wrong?

                            

Last Week’s Answers

1.       The Clinton Campaign was simply in trouble and needed to change focus and message. The move to an Africain American from a Latin might look bad, but it is a coincidence. Maggie Williams has been with Clinton forever, and is more a part of Hilaryland then Ms. Doyle. As far as the vote, I think that it is safe to say that the Africain American vote is Obama’s and the Clinton campaign needs a lot more then the support of Latinos to win Texas and Ohio the way they need to.

2.        Trust me if/when Clinton loses Mark Peen will get his share of the blame. However, as a pollster he had little to do with the amount of money that was spent /wasted by the campaign. The real reason that we are where we are is because of Barak Obama. Not even Hilaryland can beat hope.

3.       The white lady from London and the black man from America will probably never be given the same scrutiny. Also, Amy is hurting no one but herself; T.I. had enough ammunition to take out an Army.

4.       He certainly does, and he didn’t get the nod but I think he should of.

5.        I think Amy deserved album of the year. She had the best body of work for the year. Herbie Hancock won it almost as a life time achievement award. Rihanna I think won cause of the diversity of her work, rather than the quality of her work.      

6.       LOL

7.       It is because after 9/11 Islam became forever connected with anti-America. Whereas prior to 9/11 Islam in America was completely ignored. No one feels the need to defend Muslims, yet anyone with a mike feels the need to criticize it when something appears to go wrong. The fact if half of the people in this world that believe in a God or any religion do so cause that was what they were thought. They inherited it. Any of the terrorist or all of them could have been born anything besides Muslim. Osama Bin Laden was more influenced by what he say the USA doing in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia the anything he read in the Quran. It is ridiculous that ¾ of America can call themselves Christian and it be celebrated. However, a Muslim has to be defined by what someone else thinks of their faith. What happened in Tennessee is why I have no hope of the world is changing anytime soon.

8.       McCain can’t win and that is why he is going to get the nomination. He is a good sacrificial lamb to get the party back in a right direction. Huckabee will not win, but he is a good force in the race to represent a part of the party that cannot be forgotten if the GOP plans to win ever again.

9.       They do, but that depends on what you think opposites really mean.

10.   In America it is better to be attractive; it will get you, further but only to a certain point. The key is to master both. However,  you got to remember attraction is in the eye of the beholder while intelligence on the other hand is concrete.

 

Can He Deliver?

I was wrong about Senator Obama from the start. I was wrong about his electability, I was wrong about the candidate that Senator Clinton had devolved to. However, what I was not wrong about was the pulse of this race. Those democrats who had voted, fought and lost for the past 8 years and for 12 years want change, but they are voting for Clinton. Those who stayed home for the last 20 years and new voters are awaking for the Senator from Illinois. Over the past week, after Super Tuesday, Clinton has won nothing and Obama has won everything. With the Republican race as much as done, you would think Democrats would to stop their own infighting and proceed to wining. No such luck. Instead what has begun is a Civil War. Petting what seems to be a coalition of Women, Latinos, rural, and inner city Blue collar democrats. Against a coalition African Americans, young voters, Independents, and very wealthy white collar democrats and academics. What people have not been willing to say but what I am willing to see, is that Senator Obama coalition is not only growing more excited every day, but it is naturally bigger. He has and always had the numbers game on his side I think. At this point he is ahead on total delegates, actual delegates, and popular vote. If Hilary loses Wisconsin and then either Texas or Ohio, it is over and it’s time for Obama to pick his running mate (which will not be Clinton). There is no longer any quick fix for Clinton, the Super Tuesday firewall has been breached, if Obama does not put it away by Texas and Ohio this thing could all the way until May. That is a not good, because as long as McCain is the nominee we and we have no, they won. Hilaryland is broken for the first time in history. It is just not looking good for Clinton, so now what.

Here is my whole issue, I know what will happen if my horse loses, do the Obama supporters have more than “hope” and “yes we can” going into a general election. I know you can, and as long as there is a God there is hope. I am not asking this as Clinton supporter from New York, I am asking as a Democrat who wants to win not just in the fall, but four years from this point in time right now as well.

Ok, so Obama wins and then what? How does he bridge the gap to the Democrats that were not supporting him? Michelle Obama, who may be the first lady, said that she would have to think about supporting Senator Clinton if she was the nominee. What? What is that? If President Clinton had said that they would have been uproar. He would be called a racist. But, because it is the Obamas it does not matter. I am ready to support the democratic nominee for President, whomever it may or may not be. Can the supports of Barak Obama, who never can seem to point out a single policy issue were he beats Clinton, tell me the same thing?

We need no win more than we need a black President. Do I want both sure? Do I think there is a possibility we can get both? Yes we can. However, if I had to choose I would choose a win. I can’t help saying to myself that if I were a Republican running against Obama I would win. What is his foreign policy? How strongly does he believe in Democratic values such as: Equal right for all, including homosexual American and legal and illegal immigrants, a woman’s right to choose, Social Security and Medicare, Universal Medicare (not partial, not maybe, UNIVERSAL), Universal Pre-K, Reducing the Military and expanding democracy. Obama keeps saying he bringing together people on common ground, but he has not shown me the common ground yet. Has anyone stood on it? If he doesn’t wrap it up in the next three weeks, we as Democrats would give America the first brokered convention since 1952. The last nominee to come out of a brokered convention and actually win was FDR in 1932. What are we doing? We have an unpopular war, an unpopular President, and a candidate unpopular with his base, so what are we doing? I want to win.

The last real election that a united democratic party and its united democratic principles were able to win was 1964. Clinton was considered a moderate and never even reached 60% of the vote. He made more money for companies in America and restricted more New Deal and Great Society Programs than any other modern democratic President. Jimmy Carter was an outsider to say the least, and his performance in the White House showed it. So it was LBJ from Texas in 1964, who was the last liberal to win the Presidency. He won on Democratic majority and one of the biggest landslides in history because he was ready. In fact, the similarities in the story he wrote before 1960 and now is similar. Lyndon Johnson came in second to Kennedy in the 1960 Democratic Presidential Primary. Like Clinton today, but maybe more effectively, that he was more experienced the Kennedy (who many compare Obama to). Lyndon Johnson had been a congressman, a Senator, and Senate Majority leader under a Republican president. Though many people see the second coming of 1960 in Obama, you can give me 1964 any day. In the end the facts show that Kennedy with all the mystery, and majesty of Camelot won by 112,827 votes and LBJ won by 15, 951,287. Now, to be fair Kennedy ran against an incumbent Vice- President who would eventually be President himself in Nixon, and LBJ ran against Barry Goldwater. Now a give you that McCain is no Goldwater, but he is not Nixon either. (We ALL hope.)He is too old and not as politically vicious. But the facts are the facts. It took LBJ to pass the Civil Rights Acts that Kennedy had never fully, politically and publicly, supported. It was LBJ’s Great Society that pushed the refueling of programs that Democrats live by today. LBJ did this in a year and one full four year term. Kennedy was ready to run for reelection by the time he was tragically killed. I am not saying Kennedy was not ready (or that senator Obama is not), I am saying that history has shown us that in the most recent situation we can analyze nostalgia was good, but a proven doer on the national stage was defiantly needed. We didn’t learn from that time in history, and we are in another Vietnam we call Iraq. Now we are ready to ignore it again?

We know nothing about the people around Obama, at least not as much as the people in Hilaryland. Who would he have around him? Who would he nominate to the Supreme Court, Attorney General, or Sectary of State? He can say this bring America together all he wants, I know I want a liberal running the Justice Department and forming our Foreign Policy. I don’t want a President that wins with a collation that that forces him to nominate a moderate to the Supreme Court after Bush has nominated two hard core conservatives. I father have division now to sure up later, then nice now that doesn’t neutralize the damage done by the Bush Administration. Can he deliver if he wins? I don’t know if he can, but I damn sure know he needs to.

Grammy Predictions

Record of the Year: Rehab
Amy Winehouse
Mark Ronson, producer

Album Of The Year: Back To Black
Amy Winehouse

Song Of The Year: Hey There Delilah
Tom Higgenson, songwriter (Plain White T’s)
Track from: Every Second Counts

Best New Artist: Amy Winehouse
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: Rehab
Amy Winehouse
Track from: Back To Black

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: What Goes Around…Comes Around
Justin Timberlake

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Hey There Delilah
Plain White T’s
Track from: Every Second Counts

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals: Steppin’ Out
Tony Bennett & Christina Aguilera
Track from: Duets: An American Classic

Best Pop Vocal Album: Back To Black
Amy Winehouse

Best Dance Recording: Don’t Stop The Music
Rihanna
Stargate, producer; Phil Tan, mixer
Track from: Good Girl Gone Bad

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Instant Karma
U2
Track from: Instant Karma – The Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur

Best Hard Rock Performance: The Pretender
Foo Fighters

Best Rock Song: The Pretender
Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel & Chris Shiflett, songwriters (Foo
Fighters)

Best Rock Album: Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Foo Fighters

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance: No One
Alicia Keys

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: Future Baby Mama
Prince
Track from: Planet Earth

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Hate That I Love You
Rihanna Featuring Ne-Yo
Track from: Good Girl Gone Bad

Best Urban/Alternative Performance: Daydreamin’
Lupe Fiasco Featuring Jill Scott
Track from: Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor

Best R&B Song: No One
Dirty Harry, Kerry Brothers & Alicia Keys, songwriters (Alicia Keys)

Best R&B Album: The Real Thing
Jill Scott

Best Contemporary R&B Album: Fantasia
Fantasia

Best Rap Solo Performance: Stronger
Kanye West
Track from: Graduation

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group: Better Than I’ve Ever Been
Kanye West, Nas & KRS-One

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Good Life
Kanye West Featuring T-Pain
Track from: Graduation

Best Rap Song: Can’t Tell Me Nothing
Aldrin Davis & Kanye West, songwriters (Kanye West)
Track from: Graduation

Best Rap Album: Graduation
Kanye West

Best Female Country Vocal Performance: Before He Cheats
Carrie Underwood
Track from: Some Hearts

Best Male Country Vocal Performance: If You’re Reading This
Tim McGraw
Track from: Let It Go

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Proud Of The House We Built
Brooks & Dunn

Best Country Song: Before He Cheats
Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins, songwriters (Carrie Underwood)
Track from: Some Hearts

Best Country Album: Let It Go
Tim McGraw

Best Contemporary Jazz Album: River: The Joni Letters
Herbie Hancock

Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album: HIStory: Our Place In His Story
The Cross Movement

Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album: Free To Worship
Fred Hammond

Best Latin Urban Album: El Abayarde Contra-Ataca
Tego Calderón

Best Reggae Album: Mind Control
Stephen Marley

Best Musical Show Album: West Side Story
Nick Patrick, producer (Leonard Bernstein, composer; Stephen Sondheim, lyricist)(Vittorio Grigolo, Hayley Westenra, Connie Fisher & Others)

Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media: Love You I Do (From Dreamgirls)
Siedah Garrett & Henry Krieger, songwriters (Jennifer Hudson)
Track from: Dreamgirls

Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical: Mark Ronson
• Back To Black (Amy Winehouse) (T)
• Littlest Things (Lily Allen) (T)
• Rehab (Amy Winehouse) (T)
• Version (Mark Ronson) (A)
• You Know I’m No Good (Amy Winehouse) (T)

Ten Questions of the Week.

1. Does the Junior Senator from New York think that replacing young Latina Patti Solis Doyle with “experienced” African American female Maggie Williams will help her with the Africain American vote this late in the campaign? Does this mean she thinks she has the Hispanic vote locked up?
2. Why does the female in the feamale campaign lose her job, while Mark J. Penn the male gets to keep his while he has been “out coached” and destroyed this campaign by Obama’s David Axelrod. Dissention in Hilaryland?
3. Why is Amy Whinehouse rewarded for not going to Drug rehab, and T.I. rebuked for having guns? Hypocrisy?
4. Does Mr. West from Chi Town really deserve all the award nominations he gets? Do you hope he gets the nod to honor his Mom?
5. Who do you think deserves album of the year? Who do you think will win? Why is Rihanna all over the Grammy nominations list?
6. Why at Hampton University, do they offer campus limo service to another part of campus?
7. Why was there not more outrage at the burning of a, Columbia, Tennessee Mosque? Why did all four Presidential candidates say nothing, why did no one in the press care to ask?
8. Can a 76 Year Old or a man who doesn’t believe in evolution really beat the first chance to at a Female or Black President?
9. Do opposites really attract?
10. Is it better in America to be attractive or smart?